Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is a story that comes right out of the Victorian period. It was originally published by Macmillan in 1865 with the sequel of Through the Looking Glassand What Alice Found There published in 1871. Within the fantastical world of Alice, there are many instances of steampunk lore including the White Rabbit and his pocket watch, the Mad Hatter and the tea party. The story has been retold in many forms including Walt Disney’s animated film and the more recent Tim Burton/Walt Disney films (Alice in Wonderland – 2010, Alice Through the Looking Glass – 2016) featuring Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Mia Wasikowska as well as several other fine actors in various roles.

Additionally, the television show Gotham‘s current season (2016) has the Mad Hatter as its main villain as well as many themes and characters from Alice. In this instance, Alice is the Mad Hatter’s sister, his henchman are Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee and the White Rabbit brought a message to Jim Gordon. The stories are very popular and perfect for steampunk cosplay, Halloween, birthday parties and engagement parties. There are so many ways you can make Alice into a Victorian steampunk extravaganza. This post is a look into Alice in Wonderland character costumes for children and adults in more classical and steampunk versions of some of the characters. Since the story already has the clothing and accessories of the Victorian era, it is just a matter of how much interpretation you want to add for your own costume.

Costumes

There are some really lovely ready-made costumes for Alice in Wonderland. Since there are so many, this post will focus on these costumes. There will be another post to discuss handmade costumes and making your own DIY costume.

Alice

All of these costumes are for children from toddler to tween. You can certainly see how easy of a costume this is because it is really like wearing regular clothes. You can also dress it up with leggings like the tween costume or add a tutu for young girls.

Children’s Costumes

Adult Costumes

These are the classic adult costumes and also some with a twist. As you can see there are a lot of choices when it comes to pre-made Alice in Wonderland costumes for adults. For a steampunk Alice costume, you cans tart with one of these and embellish it if you don’t want to sew it yourself. At the bottom of this section, you can find wigs and “Drink Me” necklaces. Click through for larger images, pricing and sizes.

Mad Hatter Costumes

There aren’t as many costumes for the rest of the characters so children and adult costumes are listed together. Let’s start with the Mad Hatter. There are so many ways to increase the steampunk quality of this character beginning with the hat. The character already has a top hat so you just need to add more accessories such as a looking glass, monocle or steampunk gears to the costume.

March Hare Costumes

The March Hare doesn’t have a lot of pre-made costumes, but you can take them and embellish them. Another option is to create your own or find handmade costumes which have a steampunk look. You can also add steampunk accessories to the costumes.

White Rabbit Costumes

The White Rabbit is shown in many different versions, some with a jacket and some without. However, he always has his timepiece which is usually a pocket watch. You can use a costume pocket watch or a real one to give the costume a more steampunk flair.

White and Red Queen Costumes

The Red Queen and White Queen can be steampunked up, however the original versions are more Victorian than steampunk. You can embellish any of these costumes with gears and create your own scepter or alter the one shown below.

These costumes are a great place to start. They are terrific for cosplay or having a Victorian tea party of your own. Future posts will look into handmade costumes and DIY costumes and accessories, party supplies and how to host an Alice in Wonderland birthday party.